Hi Colin,
> but what is required is that pattern does not begin with a whole
> string e.g. "STR1234" and "STRxccc" are bad (because of STR) but
> "SAT1234" and "CARxccc" are good (not beginning with STR).
I think you can use:
(([^S].*)|(S[^T].*)|(ST[^R].*))
in other words, the string can start with something that isn't S; or
it can start with S, as long as it's followed by something that isn't
T; or it can start with ST, as long as it's followed by something that
isn't R.
Cheers,
Jeni
---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/